Card Range To Study

27 Cards in this Set

Boss of Irish-run New York City. Exemplifies switch from agrairian, educated, elite leadership to ambition-driven hard work. Insider information used to gain loyalty, get money/rewards for electing officials willing to let certain things slide. Helped people-not necessarily w/in the law

Boodle/ “honest graft”

Money made from having inside knowledge and using it to make certain things come to pass like electing officials.

New immigration

1880’s saw increase in immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. More Catholics and Jews rather than protestants from western Europe. Came over one by one, sometimes in family groups but passage was expensive and dangerous.

Birds of passage

Immigrants who changed their minds about making a life in America and went back home.

Walking cities

Colonial sized cities that took an hour to walk through, often settled in concentric rings of prosperity with upper class and merchants/shops at the center with degenerating status as move farther away. Not like the cities of late 1800’s.

Streetcar suburbs

Run by electricity, twice as fast as horses, cleaner, could be run in underground tunnels safely. By 1902 almost all cities with railways ran on electric streetcars. Contributed to urban sprawl by providing a network connecting suburbs to city centers.

Brooklyn Bridge 1883

1 mile long joining Manhattan and Brooklyn, 13 year project, symbol of modern/progress/success.

Louis Sullivan’s Chicago school

Of architecture produced new Chicago skyline with skyscrapers showing an impressive new era after Chicago burned in ’71.

Designed to allow light and air flow into each bedroom in a tenement to keep disease at a minimum. Often spaces served as trash receptacles and carried fires from floor to floor making things dirtier and more dangerous.

Tammany Hall

Political machine in New York originated from frat like clubs/organization that changed to centers of political power and centralized efforts for helping out citizens.

Boss rule

Relied on a network of informants, busy days, worked to help those in need get jobs, have a meal, heat a home in return for loyalty on election day. Boss’ centralized government and often ran it indirectly by supporting various politicians in the municipality. Resulted in inflated taxes, extorted revenue, and unpunished crimes along with other less obvious violations such as bribery and simony or nepotism. Build industry, plan cities, provide for entertainment.

Boss Tweed

Swindled NYC out of $13 million (ish) during his time as a boss.

Chinese Exclusionary Act 1882

Chinese presented an easy target for venting on race and blaming for urban corruption/decline.

Josiah Strong’s Our Country 1885

Blamed evils of cities on immigrants flooding the country and wanted to restrict immigration.

social gospel

Ministers thought it was the churches duty to protect and save people by righting the practices of businesses and cities by organizing to promote social activity at the church level.

Settlement houses

Located in worst parts of city, middle class patrons lived along with the people they wanted to help, mainly immigrants and very poor. Tried to instill middle class values possibly religion while providing benefits like shelter and education.

Jane Addams’ Hull House 1889

Project in Chicago working as settlement house for women especially.

Victorianism

Rigid social behavioral pattern that stressed women as centers of household/domestic life and beacons of sexual purity. No sex except for kids, keep a clean, moral, ordered home, encourage moral behavior from whole family-sobriety. Fashion included tight corset and accentuated hips and breast.

WCTU

Largest women’s organization by 1900 with 500,000. Goals were to spread sobriety and lessen abuse in the home by drunks, spread democracy, promote sexual purity and end prostitution, reform public places like prisons and better working conditions. Women chance to get out of home and church.

Comstock Law 1873

After Anthony Comstock who worked against pornography and gambling vices. (Grover) Law banned those materials from the mail and gave power to arrest and confiscate.

Homosexual communities

Big cities offered chance for them to meet others and socialize with like-people. Frowned upon by Victorian society and stigma surfaced about infirmity/mental disorder of being homosexual.